Who's Your Daddy - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. Love it, love it, love it.

It's amazing. God's so good. I never cease to

be amazed what God allows me to be a part of

and never take it for granted in what God's doing

in lives and what he's doing in hearts and what

he's doing in you. And how many felt God's presence

this morning during worship? Man, I don't know

if you were sensing what I was sensing up here,

but God's move is amazing. Don't ever take that

for granted. Anytime God's stirring like that,

just jump in, worship him, and let God move in

your own heart and your own spirit. Amen? That's

true. Well, one of the great things that I love

about pastoring is that sometimes I get the opportunity

to sit and talk with people in ways that kind

of move past the surface. Sometimes I get time

with individuals where we kind of talk about

the deep things of life. We get beyond the normal

chit -chat that we all do about the weather and

sports and wherever else is going on in the news.

And I get opportunity and I get to hear the stories

that they tell. I learn a little bit about their

history. I get a little peek into their experiences

that they've had in life. Sometimes I hear about

their hopes and I hear about their dreams. And

I learn a little bit about their family roots.

You know, a little bit about their family of

origin, where they come from. How'd they grow

up? What does that look like? And the more I

learn, the more I've come to realize that there's

a deep, deep impact that goes along with our

experiences, our history, but in particular,

our families. There's deep influence there. Our

family or lack of family really impacts our lives

in a big way. Our experiences, our stories, or

lack of, honestly, move upon us deeply within

our spirit, even down to our DNA. What is genetically

threaded through our being? I can confidently

say that it is the family DNA that I share with

my parents that has shifted some of my life experiences.

And let me tell you just a little bit what I

mean by that. Here's one of the ways. Because

I have shared DNA with my parents, my dad and

my mom, I will never play professional basketball.

Why did you laugh? Come on. It's not going to

happen, right? The NBA is not going to be contacting

me and say, Kip, we really want you to come and

play for us. Not going to happen. I'm a little

height challenged, right? I've always wanted

to be six foot. Never quite made it there. Didn't

even get close, actually. All right? It's not

happening now. It's not ever going to happen.

I can wish I may. I can wish I might. I can wish

on a star tonight. It's not going to happen.

Because of the DNA. And some of you laughed,

but they're not calling you either. All right?

My family, right, or lack thereof, impacts my

life. My father, my mother, my siblings, if you

have siblings. And I've listened to people. who

come from homes that might have great family

dynamics, and I hear how it impacts their life.

I've listened to families that have terrible

families, right? Their mom and dad are awful,

and it deeply impacts them. And I've talked to

people who can't, they have no family roots at

all. And how, you know, that aspect changes their

life, the absence. But whatever your experiences

with your parents on this earth, good, bad, absent,

or some kind of crazy mix of all of it, right,

that impacts our lives. If you're sitting with

your parent or listening with your parents, say

amen quickly. Say it right now. I mean, come

on, say it. If your family impacts you, say it

amen. Don't look at anybody. Negative or positive,

right? But I've got something interesting for

you today. I've got some interesting news. Whatever

impact your earthly parent has had on your life,

it's minimal in comparison to the impact of a

spiritual parent. And I know you're not like,

what? It's true. Whatever impact our earthly

parent has on our lives, It's minimal in comparison

to our impact of our spiritual parent. Some of

you may not believe that yet, and I hope by the

end of the day you will as we go through Scripture.

I love my parents. I had a great childhood. Both

my parents are Christians, they're believers,

they're followers of Jesus, and they've had impact

on my life. But it is my Heavenly Father that

has the impact, the eternal, the internal. All

of that comes from my Heavenly Father. I love

my wife. I love my children. I love my grandchildren.

They love me. right? But it is the heavenly father.

I have only have this much impact on their lives.

I've only got some eternal aspect of that in

a very small manner. It is my spiritual parent.

It is your spiritual parent that will impact

your eternity. And Jesus was very clarifying

in a discussion that he had in John chapter eight.

You can get ready to flip there as he's talking

to some Jews about who their father is. In a

sense, Jesus is in a conversation with a group

of Jews, and he's asking them this question,

and I'm paraphrasing, of course. Jesus was asking

them, who's your daddy? Who's your daddy? Turn

to somebody beside you right now. You can have

a little fun with this. Say, who's your daddy?

Come on. Who's your daddy? Because in John chapter

John 8 · chapter mention

8, Jesus asked this question. Who's your daddy?

While you're turning, I'm going to pray over

us hearing God's word. Father, we thank you for

this day. Lord, we know that your word is blessed.

We know that your word is truth. We know that

your word is light. So Lord, as we get ready

to dive into your word, Lord, we pray that you

will prepare our hearts, prepare our ears, God,

right on the flesh of our hearts so that we might

know and God hide your word in our hearts, Lord,

that we might not sin against you. We give you

praise and we give you glory in Jesus' name.

Everybody say it together. Amen. Amen. Well,

let me give you a little background before we

jump into this portion of Scripture. In John

John 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8, just a little earlier in this chapter,

Pharisees bring a woman that they catch in the

act of adultery before Jesus. And they do this

not only to condemn the woman, but they actually

have an ulterior motive in this. Jesus is speaking

in a public square out in the temple, out in

the outer court, and they bring this woman who

was caught in adultery. They throw her before

Jesus, and what they're expecting him to do is

to say, stoner. And they're not there because

they're righteous. They're not. there dragging

this woman into the public square because they

want to see justice done according to the mosaic

law of the time. They're doing this because they're

plotting against Jesus. The underlying reason

is they're scheming a scenario of some kind where

they can get Jesus to trip up and do the wrong

thing or say the wrong thing in a public sector.

They want to make sure that they're trying to

get Jesus to really kind of trip up in his speech

and in his actions so that the public will cry

out and actually condemn Jesus to death. They

want him to die. The Pharisees and multiple...

portions of these Jews, they want to see Jesus

out of the picture. They don't believe in him.

They don't believe he's the son of God. They

believe he's a false prophet and they want him

out of the way, but they don't want the, they

don't want the evil pointing back to them. They

want somebody to take him out for him. And when

Jesus confronts the ones who actually go to stone

this woman, those who are going to be willing

to throw the stones and kill this woman who was

caught in adultery, he starts to get down in

the sand or in the dirt, and he starts to write

something out. The Word of God doesn't tell us

what it is, but I think it was their sins. Because

they froze in place, and one by one, they walk

away, and they leave this woman. And Jesus, of

course, compassionately says, woman, where are

these accusers of yours? And she said, they're

gone. And I'm, again, paraphrasing. And Jesus

told her, go and sin no more. And she leaves.

They had a plan. They had a scheme. And it's

following this that they engage in a public discussion

or debate in an effort to discredit Jesus. Plan

A failed, so they go to plan B, and they just

begin to engage with Jesus in front of a crowd

of mixed believers, some who believed and some

didn't. And this turns into a conversation slash

confrontation. Did you ever have one of those?

Did you ever have a conversation slash confrontation?

That's kind of what this turns into with the

Pharisees and the Jews. And Jesus begins to have

this discussion with them about who's your daddy?

Who's your daddy? Who's your spiritual father?

John 8 31 says this, then Jesus said to those

Jews who believed him, if you abide in my word

and you are my disciples indeed, and you shall

know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

They answered him, we are Abraham's descendants

and have never been in bondage to anyone. How

can you say you will be made free? Jesus answered

them, Moses, surely I say to you, whoever commits

sin is a slave to sin. Now I can stop and preach

there for a while. Actually, I can preach the

rest of the morning, but that's not where we're

going this morning. And a slave does not abide

in the house forever, but his son abides forever.

Therefore, if a son makes you free, you shall

be free indeed. Then verse 37 starts to get into

a family talk. I know that you are Abraham's

descendants, but you seek to kill me because

my word has no place in you. I speak what I have

seen with my father. This is Jesus speaking,

the family talk, right? And you do what you have

seen with your father. They answered and said

to him, Abraham's our father. Jesus said to them,

if you were Abraham's children, you would do

the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill

me, a man who has told you the truth, which I

heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You

do the deeds of your father. They said to him,

we were not born of fornication. We have one

father, God. And Jesus said to them, if God were

your father, you would love me. For I proceeded

forth and came from God. Nor have I come of myself,

but he sent me. Why do you not understand my

speech? Because you are not able to listen to

my word. you are of your father, the devil. The

desires of your father, you want to do. He was

a murderer from the beginning and does not stand

in truth because there is no truth in him. When

he speaks, he's talking about the devil. He speaks

from his own resources. He speaks a lie, right?

He speaks from his own resources for he is a

liar and the father of it. But because I tell

you the truth, you do not believe me. Which of

you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth,

why do you not believe me? he who is of God hears

God, therefore you do not hear because you are

not of God. Then the Jews answered and said to

him, do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan

and have a demon? Jesus confronts this crowd

of remaining Jews and Pharisees and he shifts

the conversation to family talk. He says, let's

talk about spiritual fathers because spiritual

fathers matter. Let's talk about spiritual fathers

because spiritual fathers set the agenda of life.

Let's talk about spiritual fathers because it

has everything to do with how you're thinking,

how you're acting, the motives that are behind

what you're doing right now, your spiritual DNA.

Let's talk about fathers because I clearly see,

this is Jesus saying, I clearly see that you

have a different father than I do. I don't...

I don't think the crowd that was there that day

was fully picking up what Jesus was laying down.

Do you know what I'm talking about? Do you ever

forget talking and somebody's not picking up

what you're laying down? I don't think they were

fully getting it because Jesus was talking about

spiritual fathers and the crowd, they kept going

back and talking about their physical roots in

Abraham, Father Abraham. Abraham was the first

man that God chose to start the nation of Israel.

So they're looking back to a forefather. They're

talking about their history. They're talking

about, you know, things that they're leaning

on. And Jesus begins to set them straight on

how important it is to know who your spiritual

father really is. Jesus said to some of these,

the devil is your father. Now, how many know

if you want to get a conversation stirred up

in a hurry, that's a great way to do it? If you

don't believe me, go try it this afternoon. Walk

up to somebody and say, you know, I think your

father's the devil. You're going to engage in

a conversation. I'm quite certain of it, right?

And that's what Jesus did. He just confronted

him straight up. He just called him out. Jesus

never backed down from a fight or an argument

or a conversation in public or in private in

any kind of way. And he was not afraid to call

these Pharisees out. And he just said, you're

missing it. You don't understand who your father

is. And I'm here to tell you this morning, and

I don't want to get lost in the confrontation

or the conversation because there's a spiritual

principle. here. It's my spiritual father and

not my earthly father that gives me my true identity

in life. It's true. It's my spiritual father

and not my earthly father that gives me my true

identity in life. It's my spiritual father who

can set the course for my life. It's my spiritual

father who can determine my eternal identity,

right? He codes my spiritual DNA. He passes down

his traits to me, and they come down, just much

like it happens in a physical sense. It determines

so much of my present. It changes so much of

my past, and it absolutely sets my future. It's

my spiritual father. And it might be your physical

father's DNA that causes you to look like you

look, maybe to sound like you look, or to wear

the size of clothes that you wear. But this is

the good news. It is your spiritual father that

sets your spiritual DNA forever. I get a little

excited when I talk about this because I'm thinking

I just might be six foot when I get to heaven.

Right? Hey, my father's a big God. And if I carry

some of his DNA, it just might happen that I'm

over six foot when I get to heaven. I don't know.

I'll find out when he gets there, right? But

it is Jehovah that sets my course for life. It

is my heavenly father. If Jesus is your savior,

if Jesus is your spiritual brother, the word

of God says he is joint heirs with us. We are

joint heirs with him. That's what the Bible says.

We share the same father. That influences the

lens that I see all of life through. If I understand

it, my spiritual father shapes how I act and

what I engage in. It is my spiritual father who

will influence where I go, what I do, how I say

something, what my motivations are, what I want

and what I desire. It's true. My spiritual father

will determine my citizenship. Am I going to

be in the kingdom of heaven, in the kingdom of

God, in the kingdom of light, or am I going to

be in the kingdom of darkness, in the kingdom

of hell? It sets it, my present, my future, my

identity is deeply impacted by my spiritual father.

And Jesus was talking spiritual fathers with

that crowd that day. That's what the discussion

went back and forth with. Jesus was challenging

some of them that day. Because some of them were

saying one thing. They were saying that God was

their father, but their actions didn't show that

at all. It didn't reveal it at all. It was completely

different. Their actions revealed that they were

children of the devil. They were ready to murder.

They were ready to lie. Their motivation was

to set Jesus up to destroy him, and he called

them out. Our actions will reveal who our true

spiritual father is, our true identity. And you

got to understand something about identity. Identity

comes from our spiritual parent. My spiritual

parent impacts what I believe and what I speak.

What I do, how I do it, how I choose to see,

what I choose to see, what I choose to listen

to, what I desire. Identity shapes all of life.

It shapes all of life. Sure, outside influences.

Impact my decisions, right? Things around us,

we know that. Environment, sometimes the people

influence my decisions, influence my actions,

might even influence some things that I think.

But nothing impacts your life more than your

identity. It's how you identify that will impact

every decision that you make in life. There are

some outside forces that can influence you. Your

identity will be the filter that you look through.

How many know what a camera filter is? When they

put a filter on a camera and it changes how you

see things. It changes how the camera picks up

an image. When they put a filter on that camera,

your identity does that for you. How you identify,

who you identify in will be the lens that you

see all of light through. It changes how you're

going to respond to what's taking place in life.

Identity changes everything in your thinking.

It changes everything in your movements. It changes

everything in your relationships. It really does.

Who's your daddy? Who's your daddy? It's one

of the most impactful questions you will ever

ask yourself. Who's my daddy? On a spiritual

level, who's my daddy? Because my father shapes

who I am, shapes what I do, what I think, what

I stand for. My theology, my education, my experience,

my geographical location, my ethnicity, my physical

DNA is not going to impact my life near as much

as my identity does. It really doesn't. This

is why. This is why you can take a boy who grew

up out in the country, right? Out in the sticks

somewhere on a farm. wore jeans and a flannel

shirt all his life, farmed maybe cattle or sheep

or something along those lines. That's why you

can take a boy who spends the first 20 years

of his life, and all he's ever known, his identity's

been farming, and one day he decides, you know

what, I want to be a businessman. I want to work

on Wall Street. He goes to school. He gets an

education of some kind. It goes along with what

he wants to go do, and he goes and buys himself

a suit, and he shows up at Wall Street on the

floor. of Wall Street and he's doing what he

felt like he wanted to do and what his identity

should be and what he, come on, right? And how

many of you know you're not gonna walk in there

and say, you know, that guy right there in that

suit, he must've been a farmer one time. Unless

he's wearing a flannel suit, I don't know, right?

You're not gonna do it. He's gonna talk and walk

with the identity that he's tied into and what

he believes. No matter if his dad's still wearing

flannel and jeans out on the farm and taking

care of the animals. Our spiritual father will

genetically code me. I will pick up a spiritual

DNA from my father. Whoever my father is spiritually,

I'm going to take that on. Jesus said it in John

8, 38. He said, I speak what I have seen with

my father, and you do what you have seen with

your father. Anytime Jesus was questioned, read

God's word and where Jesus responds. He's constantly

referring back to his father. He was constantly

saying, I'm here to do the father's will. I'm

here to perform what the father has showed me.

I do what the father does. I do what the father

says. Jesus was saying it all the time. He was

carrying the DNA of his father. He spoke. His

identity was in that. It will be evident who

my father is spiritually. Who's your daddy, church?

Who's your daddy? And here's what's so big about

the idea of a spiritual father. I default, say

default. I default. I default to my spiritual

daddy because it's not what I do, but who I am.

I don't have to try to be something. It's who

I am. One of the unique things about living here

in Carlisle is that it's a very diverse area.

And I tell people this all the time. There's

so many different walks of life around here that

you see. Sometimes you can go this way, right,

and you'll run into Amish, and you go this way,

you run into the city. And here in Carlisle,

there's kind of a mix of all kinds because the

military's here. And we know the war college

is here, and they train officers over there.

And I don't know if you've ever ran into somebody

from the war college, but it doesn't take me

about two minutes to understand who I'm talking

to. They don't have to tell me they came from

the war college. I know their soldiers. I know

their officers. The more they talk, it just comes

out, right? It's who they are. It's not just

what they do. It's who they are. It identifies

them. There's an identity that's at you. And

here's the thing following Christ. If you're

trying to follow a list of rules, right? If you're

just trying to follow the Bible, exactly what

the Bible says, and we should. But if that's

all you got and you're not, your spiritual father

is not Father God and Jesus is not your Savior,

it's going to get hard to do because you'll default

back to something else other than God himself.

It's who your father is. When you pick up an

identity, your spiritual father will set your

default. Do you know what a default is? You can

think of it as kind of like a computer. You reset

to what a default is. If your computer gets messed

up, if it gets jammed up, if it stalls out and

it won't work anymore or it starts to crash,

you do a hard reset in a computer. It goes back

to the default settings. And it'll run according

to them. And that's what the default is. Our

default becomes evident when we get jammed up,

stalled out, or start to crash. Who your father

is will get evident very quick. What you rely

on, the one that you rely on, will start to appear

very quickly. And it'll become very clear. The

one that I depend on becomes so evident. The

one that I lean on for wisdom and guidance and

direction and power, right? Some of those Pharisees

in that crowd that day who wanted to kill Jesus,

their default was not Father God. They were talking

it. They even teach it. They were experts in

the law of God, but their default was saying

something completely different. And Jesus saw

it. Who's your daddy? Worship team, if you'd

come. If you'd come. One of my favorite parables

in the Bible is the parable of the seed and the

sower. And this parable is about a farmer who

goes out and throws seed into different kind

of soil conditions. And there's a lot of revelation

in this particular passage, and we're not going

to have time to break it all down. But I want

to read you quickly this parable, and then I

want to give you an explanation of just one part

of it. It says this, A sower went out to sow,

and he sowed some seeds, and they fell by the

wayside. That's the path. That's the hard ground.

And the birds came and devoured them. Some fell

on the seeds. Some of the seeds fell on stony

places where they did not have much earth, and

they immediately sprang up because they had no

depth of earth. But when the sun was up and they

were scorched, and because they had no root,

they withered away. And some fell among thorns,

and the thorns sprang up and choked them out.

Others fell on good ground and yielded a crop,

some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. He who

has to hear is to hear. Let him hear. Jesus tells

his parable to his disciples. They don't know

what it means. They're like, Jesus, what are

you talking about, right? He's talking about

farmers and seeds going out planting seed on

all these different soil conditions. What are

you talking about? And they went to Jesus and

Jesus said, well, let me explain what I'm talking

about. And I'm going to give you just part of

that explanation. In Matthew 13, 18, he says,

therefore, hear the parable of the sower. When

anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does

not understand it, then the wicked one comes

and snatches away what was sown in his heart.

He who receives seed by the wayside. So he was,

Jesus was telling him, listen, if the seed or

the word, right, of the kingdom falls on hard

ground and that's your heart, that's your condition,

the enemy is just going to come and take it and

he's going to run with it. He's just going to

take it away from you and you won't have any

kind of understanding. But listen to what he

says about the next one. But he who received

the seed on the stony places, this is he who

hears the word and immediately receives it with

joy. And he has no root in himself, but only

endures for a while. For when tribulation or

persecution arises because of the word, immediately

he stumbles. Jesus says the seed that falls on

the stony ground is somebody where the seed falls

into their heart and it grows up very quickly,

but they have no root in themselves. This is

the person who hears the word of the kingdom

and it sounds good to them. They're like, man,

this is good stuff, right? This is good wisdom.

I like the vibe of what I'm feeling right now.

They hear the word of God and they're like, I

kind of like the vibe. I got a good vibe. I got

good feels in what's taking place in church,

right? But they're not really rooted in, they're

not really buying into the idea that Jesus is

savior and that their father is their heavenly

father. They're not identifying with Christ.

They just like what they're hearing. They just

like some of what's there, maybe only some of

it. I'll grab just the pieces I like and the

part I want, right? I'll grab the theology that

makes me feel right, and I won't take anything

that challenges me. And they've got no family

roots. And the Word of God says when they start

getting some persecution and some tribulation

because of Jesus, because of following Jesus,

how many know it's not always easy to follow

Jesus? Right? It's not always easy to follow

God. When that begins to happen, they wither

away and die. There's no root. Who's your daddy?

The people that Jesus was talking to, they're

like, oh, Abraham. Abraham, a man, right? My

history. I got all this pride in my history and

who I am. Or themselves. Or the default was evil.

The devil. Who's your daddy? It matters. I'm

going to ask if you'd stand this morning. This

is so incredibly important because here's what

the enemy will do with you. I spend about this

much time, and it's not a hard conversation to

have somebody to lead them to Jesus. I spend

an abundant amount of time helping people understand

and identify in Christ. identify that they are

sons and daughters of God, that you have a heavenly

father. Because the moment you begin to step

into who you are and your identity in Christ

and that you have a heavenly father, it becomes

your default for everything. Whether trouble

comes or whether good times come, whether it's

easy or whether it's hard, all that, you will

default to your father. You will default to your

savior. And at that point, you don't got to go,

I got to hurry up and find a list of rules. It's

written in your heart. You want to follow God.

Paul talks about this all through the New Testament,

right? It gets inscribed in your spirit because

you're identifying in Christ. You're identifying

with your heavenly father. You are a son or a

daughter of the most high. Some of you need to

claim that. When the enemy comes and tries to

beat you half to death, right, he starts bringing

things into your mind and into your heart, you

need to stop him and say, oh, you don't understand,

devil. You don't understand. You don't understand

whose I am. You don't understand who my father

is. You don't understand the spiritual DNA that

I carry. You don't understand the authority that

comes along with that. You don't understand,

devil, but I'm going to tell you. That changes

everything. He can't mess with you the same way

anymore. I'm going to read one portion of Scripture,

and we're going to pray. In 2 Corinthians 6,

14, it says, Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

I used to preach this all the time as a youth

pastor, by the way. For what fellowship has righteousness

with lawlessness? And what communion has light

with darkness? And what accord does Christ have

with Belial? Or what part has a believer with

an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple

of God with idols? For you are the temple of

the living God, and God has said, I dwell in

them and I walk among them and I will be their

God and they shall be my people. Therefore, come

out from among them and be separate, says the

Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will

receive you. I will be a father to you and you

shall be my sons and my daughters, says the Lord

Almighty. Therefore, having these promises, beloved,

let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness

of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the

fear of God. Come on. Who's your daddy? Yeah,

come on. Who's your daddy? If he's your daddy,

man, man. I don't know about you, but if I get

into a fight with somebody, I want the biggest

guy I can find behind me. I don't look for somebody

lower than me. I look for somebody that's way

bigger than me. I'm like, come on, going along.

Who's your daddy? Who's your daddy? Amen. Bow

your heads right now if you would. Bow your heads.

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